Kessler managed to say: "Today I just want to come before you and tell you what really happened before this narrative is allowed to continue spinning out of control.

″The hate that you hear around you — that is the anti-white hate that fuelled what happened yesterday.

"What happened yesterday was a result of the Charlottesville police officers refusing to do their job. They stood down and did not follow through with the agreed-upon security arrangements."

The largest gathering of white supremacists on American soil in over a decade was ostensibly to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, enshrined in bronze on horseback in the city's Emancipation Park.

Three people died — one 32-year-old woman, who was hit when a car ploughed into a crowd and two state troopers, whose helicopter crashed outside the city while responding to the situation ― and at least 35 others were injured in the Virginia city on Saturday.

Kessler, 34, denied he was in any way responsible for events and has instead blamed police for suppressing the right to free speech.

As he was led away, Kessler said: "I disavow any political violence and what happened yesterday was tragic.

"The denial of First Amendment rights led to the political violence we saw yesterday."